[an italian]

There is no justice without freedom, and there can be no human rights without human liberty.

I adore this speech.

Italy will stand with who defends Freedom forever!!

[Publius6961]

But there are too many wrong or weak or confusing words, and phrases that are not quite right, and sentences that are not absolutely clear. Each time you hear one you wonder "What?" for a split second; then you forget all about it as the speech moves forward. But those split-second pauses produce a scratchy, unpolished texture that listeners experience as a vague not-quite-rightness.

... There were also weak phrases, a few unclear ones, and one absolute stinker.

... There was one flat-out unacceptable moment. Evidently the "edifice of character" is "sustained in our national life by the truths of Sinai, the Sermon on the Mount," and . . . "the words of the Koran"? Come off it! Which words? Name one! Is there a single sentence, phrase, idea in the Koran that has made any difference to this nation whatsoever? I'm not knocking the Koran; pluralism is wonderful. The problem is that at this moment, no listener in the whole world could possibly have believed that the president was serious.

Sometimes a Great Speech (A close reading of the second Bush inaugural) The Weekly Standard ^ | January 31, 2005 | David Gelernter